1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image recording technology for recording an image by ejecting a photocurable liquid from a recording head onto a continuous medium, which is formed by means of jointing a plurality of media with joint members, and hardening the image by means of light radiation.
2. Related Art
In JP-A-10-86472, there is disclosed an image recording device which is provided with a printing portion facing a transportation drum and performs printing of an image by ejecting liquids (inks) from the printing portion onto a medium which is wound and hung on the transportation drum. In particular, this image recording device makes it possible to continuously record a plurality of images which is arranged on a long-length continuous medium (so-called continuous paper) by transporting the continuous medium towards the transportation drum and, simultaneously therewith, causing the printing portion to record the images in series.
Meanwhile, the use of a photocurable liquid, which becomes hardened by being irradiated with light, enables improvement of the adherability of images to a continuous medium. Specifically, there are provided a recording head for ejecting a photocurable liquid onto a continuous medium in the state of being transported along a transportation path, and a light radiation portion for irradiating the continuous medium with light at a downstream side of the recording head on the transportation path, and through hardening of images having been recorded by the recording head by means of light radiation from the light radiation portion, it is possible to allow the images to firmly adhere to the recording medium. Nevertheless, there have been disadvantages described below when applying such a technology to an image recording device for recording images on a continuous medium.
That is, sometimes, a continuous medium is formed by means of jointing a plurality of media with joint members, such as pieces of tape. When such a continuous medium is employed, in order to avoid a damage of, for example, a recording head because of a contact of the recording head with a continuous medium's portion whose thickness is increased because of the provision of the joint member, it is preferred to bring the transportation of the continuous medium to a stop once before the joint member reaches the recording head. Specifically, the transportation of the continuous medium should be brought to a stop by detecting an event that the joint member has reached a detection position which is provided before the recording head. Nevertheless, bringing the transportation of the continuous medium to a stop before images, which are already recorded by the recording head, reach the light radiation portion results in occurrence of a situation where un-hardened images are left as they are, and thus, is likely to cause another disadvantage in that other component members are soiled by the un-hardened images.